Mr Bryant, in response to your thinly veiled criticism of the neighbourhood in which you opened your drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre, (Shepparton News, June 22) I would like to point out that the discussion about The Cottage has little to do with fear of your clients.
It is about the business model of the facility you operate and its appropriate location.
I have visited and toured The Cottage, I have talked to your clients, I have sat in your office and discussed your business model but never in fear of the clients, rather the fear for their welfare most certainly.
You operate a 24-hour drug and alcohol rehabilitation residential accommodation centre for some of our society’s most vulnerable people, who as most recovering addicts will tell you, are at their lowest depths of despair, the point they need to reach in order to recover.
Some of these clients, as you have told me, are as little as two days or less clean from their drug of addiction, yet you see it fit to offer them a service that is only manned for 72.5 hours of the 168 hours in a week.
That is only 43 per cent of the time, leaving them to deal with their own demons through the long dark hours of the night, to keep themselves occupied and distracted for the whole weekend.
You tell me that this is muscle training, I call it neglect of duty of care.
You have told me that you are offering a safe, secure environment to nurture your clients’ recovery, yet there is little to no security.
No secure fencing, no gates, people can come and go as they please, including random people from the public, there are large areas not covered by CCTV, including boundary fences.
You lead the public to believe that you have the right people in the right place to offer the best care for your clients and yet as you have told me the highest qualification anyone holds is a Certificate 4 in Community Care.
So, as you can see Mr Bryant, we are not afraid of the addicts.
We are fearful of unqualified, unskilled, inexperienced, random people operating part-time rehabilitation centres in our neighbourhoods.
If you spent more time in our neighbourhood you might realise we are a caring, concerned community that welcomes a multicultural society and celebrates our multicultural diversity and the contributions that our refugees make to our community. See next Blog post for response from – Lance Woodhouse, Shepparton.